Nov. 10 - 16, 2021 EDITOR: Jason Freund • sports@thedailyaztec.com
Sports
The Daily Aztec /
11
Football waves ‘Mahalo’ to Hawaii, defeating the Rainbow Warriors 17-10 By Nick Coppo STAFF WRITER
The Aztecs went on the road and outlasted the Rainbow Warriors of Hawaii 17-10 in a gritty battle on Saturday night. In a game where offense was at a premium, constant pressure on the quarterback, a little trickeration and timely takeaways ended up being the difference. After the disappointing loss to Fresno State last weekend that knocked them out of first place in the Mountain West, the Aztecs bounced back to nab a muchneeded victory in Honolulu — historically, a difficult place to secure a win. Since 2018, the Rainbow Warriors are 18-7 on their home turf. The first points of the game came by way of an eight-play, 47-yard drive capped off with a five yard rushing touchdown by senior running back Greg Bell — his seventh of the year. As the Hawaii offense struggled to move the ball on their first two drives, the defense was able to give the Rainbow Warriors a spark with a strip-sack of senior quarterback Lucas Johnson at the end of the first quarter deep in SDSU territory. The turnover was Hawaii’s 21st this season — fourth most in the NCAA. The Rainbow Warriors did not waste any time capitalizing on the turnover as junior quarterback Cheven Cordeiro found senior running back Calvin Turner for a 19-yard touchdown to even the score at seven. A methodical 15-play, 82-yard drive from the Aztecs stalled at the Hawaii 13yard line, which brought out Matt Araiza for a field goal attempt. At least, that is what everyone thought. Head coach Brady Hoke reached into his bag of tricks and called a fake field goal to catch the Hawaii special teams off guard.
Courtesy of SDSU Athletics
Sophomore linebacker Garret Fountain tangos with a Hawaii offensive lineman. The Aztec defense allowed just one touchdown to the Rainbow Warriors in the 17-10 win in Honolulu.
Sophomore kicker/holder Jack Browning took the snap, bolted to the left side and scampered into the endzone for six points. “We talk about Matt (Araiza) being a good athlete, Jack (Browning) is a really good athlete,” Hoke said. It was a play that the team has worked on in practice. Hoke saw an opportunity to capitalize after seeing the formation. “Once we could secure the 3-technique off the double, we knew we had something that would be pretty good for us.” The Aztecs boasted a 14-7 lead at halftime as both offenses underwhelmed. For the Aztecs, it was inefficiency on the ground and a few costly penalties that held the offense back from a bigger half. On the Rainbow Warriors’ side of the
ball, Cordeiro was under constant duress as the Aztecs won the battle at the line of scrimmage over and over again in the first half. Junior defensive lineman Cameron Thomas in particular was making himself known, recording a sack and five tackles. The third quarter was highlighted with an interception by senior safety Trenton Thompson, his third of the season. The pass rush also got to Cordeiro for three sacks in the quarter, asserting their dominance on that side of the ball. While the defense did their job, Johnson and the offense remained out of sync, totaling only 36 total yards and four offensive penalties. The fourth quarter began with the Aztecs still holding on to a 14-7 lead. A crucial drive that ate up eight minutes and
26 seconds led to an Araiza field goal that grew the lead to 17-7. It took the Rainbow Warriors until seven minutes and 43 seconds into the fourth quarter to finally put a sustained drive together. Cordeiro converted on three separate third downs to keep the drive alive. A field goal brought the score to 1710 with under three minutes to play. While it was not the most efficient game on the ground for Bell (24 attempts, 77 yards), he secured a much needed first down on the Aztecs’ final drive that forced Hawaii to burn all three timeouts. The Rainbow Warriors had one last shot to tie the game as they regained possession with one minute and 11 seconds on the clock. The burned timeouts proved to be costly on the final drive as Cordeiro moved the ball all the way down to the SDSU 23yard line but ultimately ran out of time as the game came to an end. With Fresno State defeating the Aztecs last week, SDSU needed to win and get some help from their friends in Boise in order to regain the top spot in the Mountain West. Senior defensive lineman Keshawn Banks was asked whether the team was scoreboard-watching prior to their tilt with Hawaii. “We didn’t look at it before the game actually,” Banks said. “All we were worried about was beating Hawaii. If we don’t beat Hawaii, the Fresno State loss doesn’t matter.,” Banks said. Luckily for the Aztecs, Boise State dominated Fresno State 40-14 which paved a clear path for SDSU to take back control of the conference. The Aztecs are now 8-1 on the season and take on Nevada and their NFL prospect quarterback, senior Carson Strong next week for Homecoming in Carson.Homecoming
Matt Araiza is punting his way to NCAA history By Marco Perez SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Since 2013, there have been two punts in the NFL that have traveled more than 80 yards. In a span of two weeks, San Diego State’s punter Matt Araiza tied that stat. He had a punt of 86 yards against San Jose State and an 81-yard punt against Air Force. His punt against Air Force — from his own end zone — traveled 84 yards in the air from where he was standing. Think about that; his punt traveled 84 yards in the air. The ball sailed well over the head of the Air Force punt returner and landed on the Air Force 18-yard line before coming to rest and downed at the Air Force 12-yard line. Araiza’s performance against Air Force earned him the Gorilla Glue Toughest Player on Planet Earth for the week courtesy of the well renowned Rich Eisen Show. “That one was 75 in the air from the line of scrimmage, and I believe 84 from where I was standing,” Araiza said, during his appearance on the Rich Eisen Show. Junior Matt Araiza is on pace to have the best season ever by a collegiate punter and doing so in his first season as the team’s full-time punter and while handling kickoff and place-kicking duties. He is one of only four players in FBS to do all three for their teams. He leads all FBS schools with a 51.95yard average punt in 56 punt attempts (the record for a season is 51.0 set by Braden
Photos by Andrew Finley
Junior punter Matt Araiza has been the undisputed MVP for the Aztecs in 2021, and has garnered attention across the country for being the best punter in NCAA history.
Mann in 2018). Through nine games this season he has 15 punts of over 60 yards, an NCAA record, and 30 punts of over 50 yards, two off the NCAA record. Araiza is the first player ever to have a punt of over 80 yards and a field goal of over 50-yards in the same game, and he did that in back-to-back weeks. “The kicking game and some of the things that Matt (does), let’s call it like it is, is pretty astonishing when you kick a ball 80 plus yards in the air. You don’t see that kind of change of field position very often,” head coach Brady Hoke said of Araiza. “He’s the MVP as far as I’m concerned right now with how he’s played and what he’s done.” Kickers and punters are often not given the same recognition and respect given to the skill players on the team. On this team however, Araiza has proven to be just as
important as any other player on the team and hopes to help special team players across the country gain more recognition. “There’s definitely a lot of position bias,” Araiza said. “In terms of the amount of scholarships specialists get, it’s less than every other position on the field. We’re usually last picked for a lot of things. Being a part of maybe pushing that narrative that kickers and punters can be as important as anyone else on the field, that’s huge to me.” The play of Araiza this year has led to him receiving national recognition. He was recently named to ESPN’s midseason AllAmerica team. Former NFL players have taken notice, most notably former Indianapolis Colts punter and radio show host Pat McAfee. He tweeted out Araiza’s punt against Air Force with a caption that read: “An absolute PISS MISSILE from Araiza.. this
dude is a STALLION #ForTheBrand”. “That was pretty cool,” Araiza said on being mentioned by McAfee. “All that stuff makes me laugh. A lot of people are really creative on Twitter, especially some of the adjectives he used.” Araiza credits his success to his offseason program and the work he has put in with his coaches, and said he didn’t attend many kicking camps in high school or while being at SDSU. The Aztec football team has at least four games left this season, as they have already passed the threshold to become bowl game eligible. They hope to have a fifth game and be able to play for the Mountain West Conference Championship. That gives Araiza plenty of games to punt his way into the NCAA record books as the best punter in collegiate history.
